British Ambassador captivates BCCT members with Monty Python references

Mail Reporters
On Wednesday, 31st May, the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand was
delighted to host an event at the Pattaya Marriott Resort & Spa. The main
guest was H.E. David Fall, the British Ambassador, who has started the
tradition of an annual speech for the BCCT and people living on the Eastern
Seaboard. This is the third time he has come to the BCCT Eastern Seaboard
May dinner and he was most welcome.

H.E.
David Fall ‘looking on the bright side of life.’
Graham Macdonald, chairman of the BCCT Eastern Seaboard, was there to greet
Fall and also Stephen Buckley, who is the director of trade and industry for
the British Embassy in Bangkok.
The ambassador had, in fact, spent the entire day on the Eastern Seaboard.
Graham Macdonald met with Fall and Buckley at the Amata Nakorn Ind. Est.
where they were inspecting the last minute preparations for HRH Duke of
York’s visit to the Triumph Motorcycle factory on Friday, June 9. After that
they were shown round the GKN Driveshafts plant at the Hemaraj Eastern
Seaboard Ind. Est. in Bowin and, finally, the Wood Group in Maptaput.

Graham
MacDonald listens intently as H.E. David Fall reveals to him the secrets of
evolution in world history.
The turn out for the evening event was excellent with more than sixty people
waiting to hear what subject the ambassador was going to enlighten them
about. People had no idea if it would be solemn or informative or
light-hearted or abstract. You can imagine people’s surprise when The Monty
Python music came on.
The ambassador enlightened the audience by saying that the music defined an
evolution in world history: The dawn of the age of Monty Python.

Barry
Kenyon, David Fall (British Ambassador) looked after by Somsak Tanruengsri,
GM of the Pattaya Marriott Hotel & Spa.
His Excellency said that when he was at university, Monty Python had had a
major influence on him. “It’s like a secret society,” he said, “and it does
cross generations. My 3 sons have all inherited the gene; it’s the naughty
bit of the brain, or the nudge-nudge wink-wink bit.
“What Monty Python and the programmes like Fawlty Towers, Ripping Yarns,
etc., did was to deflate the pompous. This type of humour magnifies the
absurdities of life and there is no profession that has more absurdities
than diplomacy.
“We all have to keep out sense of humour, the ultimate test is when a
country or its leaders are sure of enough of themselves to let others poke
fun at them … this is the stuff that can avoid conflict.”
He finished his speech by prompting the audience to sing, “Always Look on
the Bright Side of Life” from the movie Life of Brian.
The evening was a great success and people are already looking forward to
next year’s event.

Andrew J Wood
The university lecturer in his opening remarks asked the group of new
intakes to spell “accommodation”. He was addressing BA degree students
attending his Edinburgh class entitled, “Catering and Accommodation
Studies”. He then asked us all to write down what our first job expectations
were, on completing the 4 year degree course and at what salary?

Andrew
J Wood is a long time resident of Thailand and General Manager of Chaophya
Park Hotel & Resorts, Thailand and Skĺl International Councillor for
Thailand.
The results were perhaps easy to forecast: more than half of us said we
would like to be in senior management positions, a few even said general
manager; with salary expectations ranging from fifty thousand pounds per
year upwards. The year was 1979.
At that point in time we were 30 students. Four years later there were just
nine who had made it through to graduation. Most of us in our first real
jobs had starting salaries of less than ten thousand pounds per year.
I guess the point being made by the lecturer, in those early days of
university, is that as students we have no real knowledge of the world
outside. Almost 30 years later, ask students the same questions today and
you are almost bound to receive similar answers.
During the 2006 PATA Education and Training Forum - a recent industry
seminar on Education in the Hospitality Industry hosted by the Pacific Asia
Travel Association in Pattaya, I along with a group of panellists were asked
to comment on why the industry was not very good at attracting talent and
why there were so few Asian leaders in the hospitality industry.
Student’s un-realistic expectations were cited as a challenge by many
educators at the conference.
One of the speakers hit on perhaps another important observation. The
industry is perceived poorly. Images of dish washing, mopping floors,
waiting at table, it hardly conjures up a ‘sexy’ vision. However the
industry is a heavy user of technology and the industry’s image of being
just an accommodation and food and beverage provider, with little variety,
is being enhanced with many areas of specialization that may well appeal to
a younger generation (the so called Generation Y). They are competent,
computer literate individuals, capable of multi-tasking (i.e. balancing a
cup of iced coffee in one hand while playing video games on the other,
talking on their hands free mobile phones and listening to music from their
iPod, all at the same time!).
As educators, the hospitality industry in Asia desperately needs to improve
its PR. It can be the most rewarding of careers as many of us have found. A
career that can lead to travel, new opportunities in a variety of countries
and locations and just as importantly, a career ladder as high as your
ambitions.
With the emphasis on more leisure time in our lives, the tourism industry is
expected to dramatically increase. More travelling from retiring
baby-boomers (they are fast approaching 60), longer life expectancy, the
impact of higher inherited wealth, greater, faster, cheaper air travel, they
will all have significant impact.
As to that latter part of the question, why are there not more Asian Tourism
leaders in our industry? The short answer is that there should be and there
are many talented individuals around.
One of them is the current chairman of the Singapore based Banyan Tree Hotel
Group, Ho Kwon Ping, who during the recent PATA conference, expanded by
saying, “In the last century when the well-heeled western tourists
experienced Asian hospitality, the unspoken paradigm was that of the
caucasian expatriate GM and the smiling, gracious Asian waitress or bellboy.
Because of the need for fluency in European languages, knowledge of western
cultural and culinary standards, senior management of an Asian hotel would
invariably be a westerner.”
Times are changing, but perhaps the pace of that change is not quick enough,
in an industry that is often a country’s second or third largest export
provider. In Thailand for instance, from my own calculations (and therefore
unofficial), I estimate there are close to 350,000 hotel rooms in Thailand
(incidentally only 95,000 of which fall under the umbrella and protection of
the Thai Hotel Association). There are 14 universities and colleges offering
tourism related further education courses, with an annual output of just
2,000 graduate or diploma students. Calculating that the room to staff ratio
across the board of 5-star to no-star hotels is approximately 0.75, that
means a total workforce of approximately of 262,500 people.
With just 2,000 graduates arriving into the industry each year and a
turnover of approximately 20% who will leave in their first year, the
industry is in a poor state of educational health.
However, there are a few bright lights shining. A number of companies in the
private sector are starting to introduce their own training programmes,
including the overseas exposure that is so important in our industry, along
with English language training (the language of international business).
What is now needed is a visionary to put the frame work of an educational
system together, which will long provide for home grown hospitality leaders.
And finally for those of you curious to know ... the spelling of
accommodation ... twenty seven of the thirty got it wrong.

Amari Hotel welcomes
famous rugby player

Mr. Pierre Andre Pelletier,
(left) General Manager and Mr. David Coming, (right) Executive Assistant
Manager of the Amari Watergate Hotel recently welcomed Mr. Eric Rush,
(center) Rugby Captain of the World Champion New Zealand team on his arrival
as the guest speaker at the Juniper Networks Asia Pacific Conference at
Watergate Ballroom of the Amari Watergate Hotel

Hotel boom continues in China

China is leading the world in the number of hotel
developments, according to the first study for Asia by US-based Lodging
Econometrics, an industry authority for hotel real estate.
China has 188 hotels or a total of 71,967 rooms, in the pipeline,
representing 48 percent of all development in Asia. Of this, 134 are four or
five-star properties and 46 are scheduled to open in the second half of
2006.
The study said the coastal cities and second-tier cities were leading the
growth in China. Beijing has 25 hotels in the pipeline - of which 18 are
four or five-star developments; while Shanghai has 24, of which 19 will be
of four or five-star category.
India is behind China with 78 hotel projects, and Thailand ranks third with
39 projects in the pipeline. But in Thailand’s case, many are part of the
redevelopment of areas affected by the tsunami in December 2004. (TTG)

Pattaya goes for top end

Thai travel agents want to promote Pattaya as a high-end
tourist destination, but first they plan to gradually eliminate its negative
image as a haven for sex tourism.
Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) president, Mr Apichart Sankary,
said the move was in response to the anticipated year-end opening of the new
Suvarnabhumi Airport, located just one and a half hours from the Pattaya.
He said ATTA and the Thai Hotels Association had in May organised an agent
familiarisation trip to Pattaya for a site inspection as well as
brainstormed ways to develop tourism promotions. As a result, ATTA has
identified the 100-year-old canal market as a new tourism attraction for
potential tourist markets from Europe such as Russia and Switzerland as well
as locals and expatriates.
However, Mr Apichart said Pattaya must eliminate problems hindering tourism
growth such as safety, illegal sex tourism and the lack of proper zoning for
the entertainment district.
“The high-spending Scandinavian market is extremely against all these
negative issues and that explains why Pattaya can now only attract Asians
and Russians with lower spending power,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Tourism Authority of Thailand - Central Region Office 3 is
organising a “Colours of The East” event for 90 international travel agents
and media from Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan scheduled for
June 10 to 13.
The event, it is hoped, will highlight tourism attractions in the Coastal
Tourism Cluster including Chonburi (Pattaya), Rayong, Chanthaburi and Trat.
(TTG)

Chinese officials voice concern over tourist safety in Thailand

It was only late last year that Thailand attracted the
biggest single tourist group from China. But with growing concern regarding
tourists’ safety in Thailand, a senior Chinese official has asked the South
East Asian country’s government to make destinations safer for Chinese
tourists. The development follows the deaths of three Chinese nationals from
accidents in Phuket earlier this year.
“The Chinese government is very concerned about the safety of Chinese
tourists, especially as three have died as a result of accidents in Phuket
since the beginning of the year,” Yao Bomin, China’s Consul-General in
Songkhla, said.
“The Chinese government recognizes that the most important thing for tourism
development is safety, and so we urge Chinese tour operators to take very
good care of their tourists. We also want the Thai government to help
prevent Chinese tourists from getting into unsafe situations.
The development can be a major concern for Thailand.
For example, in late 2005, nearly 7000 incentive travel award winners from
five major Chinese cities redeemed their awards with a holiday in Bangkok
and Pattaya. It was termed as the biggest ever group of Chinese tourists to
visit Thailand.
In another development preceding the biggest group tour, the Tourism
Authority of Thailand (TAT) signed an agreement with four Chinese companies
to boost the public profile of the kingdom and attract millions of Chinese
visitors both in the immediate term as well as over the next five years.
But with growing concerns, Chinese officials have sought cooperation from
related agencies, especially tour companies to strictly follow the safety
rules. The authorities have asked the government to produce leaflets in
Chinese language explaining to tourists about any dangers that they might be
exposed to in the areas they visit.
“Tourists have an obligation to take care of themselves, but a major factor
is that traffic in Thailand is different from that in China. We would like
the Thai government to improve traffic safety and to make travel safer,”
added Yao.
“At a recent conference of Thai and Chinese tour businesses in Bangkok,
guidelines for safer practices were set down and standardized prices were
set for tours to Bangkok and Phuket. If a company is found to be charging
more than the agreed prices, the Chinese government will move to have the
company’s operating license revoked. Similarly, if a tour company has an
accident, the Chinese Consulate will investigate and possibly move to have
the company’s license withdrawn,” Yao said. (eTN)